Want to Motivate Your Employees? Appreciate Them

After last week’s episode with my company's HR Manager, I was taken by surprise to hear she had told another employee he needed to buck-up and be more like Savvy.* She told him, "She’s been doing both her job and the CFO’s since he’s been out and you don’t hear her complaining.” She even said something to the effect that I was doing a good job. I couldn’t believe it. My body immediately relaxed, I became calmer, more energized and more motivated. I was surprised after all these weeks of feeling stressed and as if I wasn’t measuring up my company’s management felt otherwise and by how much I needed to hear it.

Thursday our CFO returned. When he walked in the door I started cheering and our entire staff clapped. He said he hadn’t received this big of a welcome from his family when he returned home the previous day. I told him the old saying “Everyone is replaceable” did not apply to him.

Then on Friday, my big 50th birthday, I arrived to an office decorated in black and a little party that included a cake. The employees who work for me and one of our owners were laughing (something I haven’t seen in a long time) and making jokes. They posted neon green post-its with the number 50 on them all over the office (so I wouldn’t forget how old I am). We haven’t celebrated anyone’s birthday in the office in years.

In the midst of all this I accomplished more work than I had in a long time. When I left Friday night I was almost caught up. This was quite an accomplishment considering the previous week I had left the office fearing I may never be caught up again. I honestly think feeling appreciated made all the difference.

I try to make an effort to publicly thank or show appreciation for employees when the opportunity arises. It is easy to do if you are paying attention. Recently I have done the following:

• I publicly gave credit to an employee for providing new information on a manufacturer’s policy change to all employees via email. (As opposed to our HR Manager who recently touted this same employee’s idea as her own)
• Via email, I thanked an employee in another department for assisting me with an audit when I was in a bind. I cc’d her boss who later told me how much my email had meant to this employee.

*This comment which was so helpful to me was deflating to the employee who is supposed to buck-up. He was absent the next day, isn’t as sharp as he usually is and seems depressed. Telling someone to buck-up and be like someone else is probably some of the worst advice you can give an employee.

Speaking of advice, the comments I received on I'm 50 Years Old and Still Can't Think On My Feet may be the most helpful comments I’ve ever received on this blog. I sincerely thank and appreciate every one of my commenters.

How about you? Does your employer let you know they appreciate you?

Racism in My Community

I wrote at the beginning of the year, I’m considering rebranding this blog. One of the topics I’ve contemplated is “becoming Savvy” or “getting a clue.” I came up with the idea after reading an interview with Susan Jane Gilman where she describes her book Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress: Tales of Growing Up Groovy and Cluelessas a series of essays on getting a clue about her naiveté.

I am the queen of naiveté. I grew up on a farm in rural Wisconsin where the only sources I had for learning about the outside world were school, church, television – only CBS though since our reception couldn’t pick up NBC or ABC - and from books. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until later in adult life I realized these sources usually presented an ideal or white-washed version of the real world. 

While listing topics for my new “Getting a Clue Blog, racism along with feminism are always at the top of the list. It was rare for me to encounter people who weren’t white in my community during the 60’s and 70’s. The one and only time I remember seeing someone with darker skin was while visiting a nearby town with my Grandma. We were sitting in her car on a sweltering July day (probably waiting for my Dad to return from the feed store) when she said, “Quick roll up the windows and duck down. There are colored folks over there who’ll steal from us if they see you” I remember doing what she said, but only after sneaking a peek at this man and his son.

I learned about the civil rights movement in social studies and was taught God loves everyone equally at church. I believed our country had moved on from racism and that my Grandma was an anomaly. She was old, didn’t get out much and didn’t know better. In the eighties I went to see the film Mississippi Burning and was reassured the world had changed and my country had moved on from all that. 

That was until a few years ago, before the Trevon Martin incident. I was relaying bad news from a company I work with to a respected member of my community. This person is an educated, religious, wealthy, older white male. Upon hearing my news, he went into a rage swearing and spewing hatred towards every person he had ever dealt with at this company, even referring to a former employee of this company with a racial slur.

I was shocked. I stood there completely tongue-tied unable to believe my ears. I had been wrong. When this man singled out a person of color with the “n” word I realized not only did racism still exist, but I was looking right at it. This man may think he's good at hiding it, but racism and hatred are alive in his psyche. 

I was reminded of him this week as I read numerous articles and blog posts discussing how racism continues to be a huge problem in our society; in response to the shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

Racism is not a topic I can easily write about. I feel I don’t know enough about it to write truthfully and intelligently. But I can tell you this, racism does exist and is more prevalent than I thought possible. It exists not just in our segregated cities and in the south. It is in the north, in our suburban communities, in our places of employment, in our churches, our charities, and our families. I would like to think the children of the man I spoke to above would have been appalled and embarrassed if they had heard his words, but I will never know for sure.

Another key element of my “Becoming Savvy” blog is to write about books that have made me a more informed person. A book I’ve been meaning to read for this project is The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson.

Mocha Mama, one of my favorite bloggers covering racism, writes:

There aren't many books that I would recommend be a part of a mandated curriculum in teaching History (because there are a great many to be sure) but one that I cannot stop thinking about is Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns. It is remarkable in scope and one cannot help but consider that movement, The Great Migration, in shaping cities and labor issues and the construction of what came to be known as the ghetto and the gentrification of those cities later on in history. Wilkerson herself has called that Migration "the biggest underreported story of the twentieth century.

I plan to read The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration next month. Will you join me?

 

 

Please Note, I am an Amazon Affiliate

 

Live Healthy on a Budget

2014 was not my best year on this blog or in my daily life. I was consumed with a family member's illness, work and other life inconveniences; flat tires, broken computers, an aging sick dog, etc. I half-heartedly attempted to reinvent my career, but deep down I knew I would not be leaving my job and starting over any time soon. I even contemplated quitting blogging.

I know that I am at my happiest when I’m challenging myself and learning something new, so with the start of 2015 it is time for a new blog and life project:

In 2015 - I am challenging myself to live healthy on a budget. 

 I came up with the idea when I read about the 1% rule (every week try to get better 1% physically, emotionally, mentally) in James Altrucher’s post the secrets of personal finance.  I’ve always had an interest in healthy living and fitness, include a personal finance element and this may be a project I can stick with. Much better than my organizational resolutions  from last year. My plan is to work towards becoming 1% healthier each week and share my progress here.

Who knows! If I’m still writing about living healthy on 12/31/15, I may rebrand this blog. In case you haven’t noticed, I am losing interest in writing about work and careers.

Tune in next week when I will be sharing what healthy living books I will be reading in January. Do you have a suggestion?
 

What is your favorite tip to live healthy on a budget?

My Blog Makeover

As some of you have already noticed my site has a new design. The updated look was designed and created by Iris of Charming Blog Design. I couldn’t be happier with the results. Iris was so easy to work with. She asked for examples of what I liked before giving me several samples to choose from - which worked well for a non visual person like me. 

Iris is from Heidelberg, Germany. In addition to designing blogs, she is a student majoring in Elementary Education, enjoys crafting, collecting and creating birdhouses, nature photography, music, and blogging about her long distance relationship. If you are looking for a new blog design, I highly recommend her.

Go HERE to get in touch with Iris and give your own blog a new look! :-)

Conversations for Savvy Women

In case you haven’t noticed my blog has a new tag line:

Conversations for Savvy Women

 

I’ve been brainstorming ideas with blogging guru Kimberly Gauthier to help brand my blog and determine a new blogging niche. My previous niche, blogging about topics for women was too broad. I wasn't sure who my audience was from week to week and was having difficulty coming up with fresh blog material. I needed someone from the outside to guide me out of my blogging rut.

Along comes Kimberly Gauthier:
When Kimberly Gauthier offered to help readers discover their blogging micro niche in her newsletter Blogging in My Pajamas I took her up on it.

Kimberly identified what she liked about my blog and gave me a couple of tag line ideas. She suggested I write down all the words that come to mind when thinking of my blog then use a Thesaurus to come up with more. I  combined Kimberly’s ideas with my own to come up with a new tag line. I was surprised at how easy and fun the process was and am happy with the result.

I love the idea of having a conversation with a group of savvy women (and men if they are so inclined) with each post. I also think “Conversations for Savvy Women” will broaden my niche rather than stifle it. I have several new post ideas, so stay tuned.

Click here to learn more about Kimberly’s free newsletter Blogging in My Pajamas.

If you enjoyed this post you may also like:
Be Careful Using Free Photos on Your Blog
Journey of a Professional Blogger: Kimberly Gauthier BBC Feature Interview

Be careful using free photos on your blog; you may not have authorization

This week I received the following email:

Hi, I see you have one of my photographs on your site. Please could you either remove it, or link it back to the original page. Thanks in advance. Otherwise I will be obliged to report its use to Google - who will remove your page from their index. Regards

It was only recently I began including photos on my blog posts. As I became more active on social media sites like Pinterest and Google+ I realized my posts had to include a photo if I wanted them to receive recognition or with Pinterest even to be able to participate. Since my personal photo collection consists almost entirely of pictures of my dogs, a topic I don’t normally write about, I resorted to using photos I found on the web. Initially I used Microsoft's Images, but as my photo needs became more specific I ventured out looking for more original pictures and discovered Google Images.

I was in a hurry when I choose the photo in question - which was a good one - and is probably the reason my blog stats topped the charts in the days that followed. It hadn’t occurred to me that despite the photo being free and posted on Google Images, I wasn’t authorized to use it.

After receiving the email, I immediately removed the photo from my post (being at work I couldn’t easily figure out how to link the photo back to the original poster) and sent him an apology.

I still see this photo everywhere and none of them are linked back to the poster who emailed me.  More confused than ever  I reached out to professional blogger Kimberly Gauthier for guidelines on how to find authorized photos or images to use on my blog in the future. Kimberly has created blogs about both photography and blogging, so who better to ask. Her latest blog is Keep the Tail Wagging, an online magazine for dog lovers. Here is Kimberly’s response:

OMG – thank you so much for asking me! That has got to be a heart stopper Not everyone understands the rules. So, to avoid something similar happening to me, I do one of four things…

1. I take my own pictures – but, to be honest, with all that we have on our plate, how many people outside of photography bloggers have time to take their own pictures?

2. I use the Wordpress plugin Photodropper (http://www.photodropper.com/) – it searches Flickr for images with the right Creative Commons licenses that are for commercial use (we should do it this way even if our blogs aren’t monetized just in case we decide to monetize down the line).

3. Sometimes I just go directly to Flickr(http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons) and search for images myself. Again, I’m looking for images that can be used on commercial sites.

4. I create my own images that are text based. These are great for Pinterest, because it shows people exactly what the pin is about and we have an opportunity to really draw them in, sort of like with our blog titles. Here’s a link to today’s post on my site that has a text based image that I created in Word: http://www.keepthetailwagging.com/images-of-abused-and-neglected-animals/

If you would like to learn more about Kimberly Gauthier please visit her site Keep the Tail Wagging (http://www.keepthetailwagging.com/welcome)

A couple of days later, I received another email from the original poster. He wrote:

Thanks for your prompt response. I don't usually mind, but lately Google have been displaying sites with my photos above my own, and therefore I'm losing visitors.

I still feel just awful. One of the premises of my blog is to promote honesty and integrity through my writing and I here I go steal an image from a fellow blogger. I’ve certainly learned a lesson and will be very careful when posting photos and images in the future.

The golden retriever photo in this post is from my personal collection.

Does anyone have any other guidelines or recommendations I should use when searching for photos and images in the future?

If you liked this post you may also like:
Journey of a Professional Blogger: Kimberly Gauthier BBC Feature Interview
SWG Coffee Social: The Weekly Roundup Post

Journey of A Professional Blogger: Kimberly Gauthier BBC Feature Interview

In the comments section of my post Gemologist Interview - Q and A with Gillian Griffiths, G.G. a reader suggested I post about the business of blogging. I immediately thought of Kimberly Gauthier who writes the blog Keep the Tail Wagging. Coincidentally, a few days later Kimberly was the featured interview on Black Bloggers Connect where she shared her professional blogger journey. I am reposting it here today. I hope you find it as informative as I did:

Joining Classy Career Girl’s Networking Challenge

Ever since I read Frau Tech's post Blaming Women Entrepreneurs, I haven't been able to stop thinking about networking.  Here is the section of her post that had the greatest impact on me:

Starting a business is like getting a job. It’s more about who you know than what you know. Many of my male colleagues have networks and contacts built up within the industry. Their opinions are trusted more on technical matters than mine are.

I even asked Anna Runyan of Classy Career Girl to write a guest post for me on Why Networking is Important which ran earlier this week.  Anna mentions some interesting points about barriers that hold you back from networking. I could relate to all of them. Her post also got me thinking about another networking fallacy:

Networking is only important when you are looking for a new job

The truth is you should be developing and nurturing your network on an ongoing basis. And networking is a two-way process. The most successful networks are ones where you give your network more than you receive.

I realized I have been neglecting my own network. Over the past couple of years I have become increasingly disillusioned with my accounting career. So much so, that I have been contemplating a career change.  The practical side of me, however, realizes I still need to support myself and a career change is most likely a pipe dream.  Not wanting my accounting network to know I want out I have been ignoring it. Also being an introvert, it is easy for me to sit in the corner allowing others to sit at the table.

It is time I get back in the game:
I have decided to join Anna Runyan's Networking Challenge. Here is the challenge Anna created for herself:

Every month I would meet with four people I already knew but would like to get to know even better. I also made a point of meeting with four new people.  My goal was to learn from each person I talked to and ask questions about how I to get to the next step in my career.

Anna says we don't have to start with 4 people right away she recommends we begin with just a couple of people the first month and grow from there.  Her most important tip is to plan ahead, write down who we want to meet with and email them before the month starts. Her second tip is to find someone to keep us accountable.  For her accountability, she shares her progress with us on her blog and we keep her accountable.

My Networking Challenge:
I am going to begin with meeting two people I already know and two that I don't each month. These will be people in my community. I too, am going to use my blog audience to keep me accountable. I am also going to try to attend two local events each week.  These could be meetings at trade associations or book events at book stores or libraries.  Lisa Bloom author of the book Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World (which I wrote about here) has challenged us to attend one book event a month.  I am going to take her up on it.  On a side note you may be interested in the following offer Lisa made to her twitter followers @LisaBloom:

Special Offer! Anyone who goes to an author event at your local bookstore or library and tells me about it gets a retweet.

My new blog series:
I am starting a new series on my blog - interviews with other female bloggers who have interesting or unusual careers they are passionate about.  My first interview will appear later this week. My ultimate goal will be to run two interviews each month. In order to achieve this I will have to establish several new social contacts each week in addition to maintaining my current network. My biggest fear is that without prior contact my interview email requests will be considered spam. My challenge will be to make 4 new social contacts each week in addition to keeping up with 4 current contacts.

On being accountable:
As part of this post, I was going to link to Getting my Ducks in a Row, a previous blog post where I introduced a similar challenge. In rereading that post, I noticed how similar it was to this one. As I recall, that particular challenge did not last very long, which just goes to show how hard networking can be for people like me. I think by actually joining Anna’s challenge and having this post listed on her site I will feel much more accountable this go-round.

Do you need a networking challenge to push you out of your comfort zone?  If so head over to Classy Career Girls' site and join us.

SWG Coffee Social: New Perspectives

“New Perspectives,” my theme for February's SWG Coffee Social began when Monica of Monica's Tangled Web convinced me to add a "subscribe by email" option to my blog. I had an AHA moment when I realized just because I prefer reading my favorite blogs in Google Reader others may prefer different options.

The "New Perspectives" theme progressed throughout the month as someone in my circle was forced to retire before he was ready. It is a hard lesson and one all of us as should be aware of as we (or are loved ones) continue to work after full-retirement age. Despite feeling as though we are physically and mentally able to work our employers may feel otherwise. Once 65, if we haven't done so already, we need to begin preparing ourselves financially and emotionally for retirement. This particular person was not prepared and it has been hard on all of us. I contributed by doing what I do best: assisting with retirement paperwork and financial decision making.

 Here are a few posts/articles from around the web that changed my perspective in the month of February:

In Blaming Women Entrepreneurs Frau Tech writes about why she hasn't gone out and started a highly technical business:

Starting a business is like getting a job. It’s more about who you know than what you know. Many of my male colleagues have networks and contacts built up within the industry. Their opinions are trusted more on technical matters than mine are.

This was a real eye-opener into the importance of building a strong network early in your career and the differences between male and female networking opportunities. I was reminded of two engineering grads, one male and one female, the engineering company I worked for in the mid-nineties hired at the same time. The male was highly touted by his manager as the guy who is going places (I wrote about him in How to be more confident at work) while the female was mistaken as the coat check employee at a popular conference.

In could I work for a manager with a degree from an online school? Alison recommends the reader not put so much weight on an online degree without knowing the person. More interesting for me though, was the conversation in the comments on what term to use when referring to other females. The commenter's were opposed to girl, gal, lady and ma'am. I remember being chastised for referring to my female co-workers as girls at one of my professional association meetings; again just because a term like "girl" doesn't bother me doesn't mean others won't be offended. I was told to use the term "ladies" instead. Now after reading Alison's comments, I plan on using "women" or the gender neutral term "co-workers." Coincidentally, my new hairstylist calls me "Missy." I am sure she does this when she can't remember a client's name, but it sounds inappropriate. I suggest she brainstorm tricks for remembering names instead.

I am currently reading Annie Leonard's book The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-and a Vision for Change. After reading this book I may never be able to look at the paper my company throws away, a frozen meal (all that packaging) or aluminum can the same way again.

For a shortened version of the above book's message, I suggest reading Robert Reich's article in Christian Science Monitor: The biggest risk to the economy in 2012. It was recommended by Sarah at Citizen Reader in her post Tuesday Article: The real problem with the economy. In case you don't have time to read the article Sarah includes one of her favorite paragraphs:

The crisis of American capitalism marks the triumph of consumers and investors over workers and citizens. And since most of us occupy all four roles – even though the lion’s share of consuming and investing is done by the wealthy – the real crisis centers on the increasing efficiency by which all of us as consumers and investors can get great deals, and our declining capacity to be heard as workers and citizens.

Lastly if you are on Twitter, Bob Lowry's post I've been Twacked! (My Twitter Account was Hacked) is a must read. He writes of opening a Direct Message from a blogger he is friends with just before going to sleep, and all heck broke loose while he slept. His Twitter account was hacked. He gives advice on what to do if your account is hacked and suggests never opening a link in a direct message ever again.

I was feeling pretty lucky after reading Bob's post because I too had clicked on a link in a direct message; only my computer's virus protection software removed the virus before my computer became infected.

Then a couple of days after reading Bob's post my own personal hell broke loose. When I clicked on a blog I hadn't seen activity from in a while, my computer's virus protection software started going crazy and became inundated with pop-up screens. As I attempted to have Window's Security Essentials block the virus, my computer was taken over by Strong Malware and shut down. Luckily I had read Bob's post earlier and knew to immediately change my blogger, twitter, Google and email passwords. It took five days and a lot of swearing to get that computer up and running properly again. This consisted of booting my computer up in safe mode, restoring programs and settings to a prior day (restore wizard helped with this). Then removing the Trojan Downloader win 32/claret ore virus. After several security scans later, I believe my computer is finally virus free, though I am staying off the internet for the time being. In the future instead of seeking out a blogger/twitter who has dropped off of social media, I am going to assume they've been hacked and wait for them to reappear on their own.

And if my month couldn't have been any crazier, my two dogs encountered a skunk at 5:30 a.m. on a work day. After much cleaning and shampooing we are almost free of the horrendous skunk smell.

My only hope for March is that it is less disruptive. How about you? How was your February? Did you have any "New Perspectives?"

SWG Coffee Social: Thanks For A Great 2011

The problem with round-up and thank you posts is that it is too easy to forget someone.  For example the inspiration for my post SWG Coffee Social: The Weekly Roundup Post was Classy Career Girl and her Monday Motivation: Your Weekly Career Links.  Every Monday Anna posts a collection of career related links she's discovered around the web. They are the perfect way to start my week.  When her weekly post appeared in my reader the Monday following my roundup post, I realized I had forgotten her. I would now like to give a big thank you to Classy Career Girl for providing me with a little motivation each week.

 

I also want to point out Classy Career Girl's post 2012 Countdown where she lists her 2011 accomplishments. Many of the items Anna listed are good examples of things you should do if you would like to turn your blog into a business.

I would also like to thank:

- Webb From the Garden Bench my most frequent commenter.  Just when I begin to think my latest post is the biggest dud ever, along comes Webb with a fantastic comment adding new perspective, information and insight to my post. She is also there to offer support and advice when I need it.  Thank you Webb, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. 

- A big Thank You to every one of you who commented on my blog this year, my blog would not be the same without you.

- Grace of GRACEful Retirement for including my blog on her blogroll.  Nicole and Maggie mentioned in the comments on SWG Coffee Social: The Weekly Roundup Post that they get to my blog via Grace's blogroll. I have since reviewed my stats and realized more readers come to my blog via Grace’s blog roll than any other source. Thank you Grace for including me and improving my blog's traffic.

- Thanks to all the other bloggers who have added me to your blogroll. Also, if you are a blogger who blogs about issues that are of interest to women let me know I would be happy to add you to my blogroll.

- Sarah at Citizen Reader for linking to my post Band Discussion: How did you get into nonfiction? in her Tuesday Articles: Viva nonfiction! I was honored to be included in her post. Her link made this post one of my most popular of the year. Thank you Sarah and also thanks for keeping my nonfiction TBR list full.
 
- Also thank you to Nicole and Maggie and everyone else who has linked to my posts in 2011.
 
- Thank you to each and every one of you who took time out of your busy schedule to read my posts.  I wish all of you a Happy and Healthy 2012.  Thanks again.

SWG Coffee Social: The Weekly Roundup Post

Welcome to the 2nd week of The SWG Coffee Social.  This week I want to talk about how to meet other bloggers. Since I blog on a variety of topics; work, finance, books or whatever happens to be on my mind when I write my weekly post, I typically avoid blog carnivals. A blog carnival is a compilation of blog links usually centered around a previously determined topic posted on the carnival organizer's site. Many carnivals have a new host each week. Carnivals are an excellent way to promote your blog and to meet other bloggers in your niche.

I have found the next best thing to a blog carnival for discovering other bloggers are weekly roundup posts. I have found many of my favorite bloggers through these types of posts. Here are four bloggers I read who post weekly roundups guaranteed to provide stimulating reading:

Trent Hamm, a personal finance writer, posts a weekly roundup edition on his blog The Simple Dollar.

Nicole and Maggie who work in academia and also write about personal finance provide a Link Love post each week on their blog Grumpy Rumblings of the Untenured.

Rhea a 50-something blogger who examines mid-life crisis and ennui in America posts a Friday Links Variety Show on her blog The Boomer Chronicles.

Delia Lloyd of Real Delia who writes about finding yourself in adulthood writes a Friday Pix: Recommended Reading For The Weekend.

Speaking of weekly lists, Nicole Abdou of Destination Unknown writes a weekly list of Things I Have Learned This Week. Her lessons are inspirational and insightful.  I met Nicole through the LBS tea party and she has written a guest post for this site. You can read her post I've lost my job. Now What? here.

How do you meet other bloggers? Do you participate in carnivals? Do you read weekly roundups? What blogs do you recommend reading this week?

Enjoy your Saturday and Happy Reading.

Remembering: A Lesson in Community

If you are a regular follower of my blog you may have noticed I usually post on Sundays. With today being September 11, 2011 my first thought was to not acknowledge the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and schedule my weekly blog post for Monday.

Then my brother who lives in NYC sent me this photo he took of the 9/11 memorial:

I found it so moving, I decided to include it in a post and write about how important it is to never forget what happened on 9/11. To include my own memories; where I was, who I was with, how I remembered the crisp air of that September day and what I had been wearing.

Then this morning I read a post on Florinda's blog The 3 R's. She writes about community, reminding us September 11, 2001 was a day that brought people together, no matter where they were.
She writes:

We haven't always consistently maintained that sense of community and connectedness throughout the last decade, but it's important to remember how important it is.

I put off writing this post and went outside to read the Sunday paper with my dogs. I wasn’t able to concentrate on my reading. I kept thinking about Florinda’s post and how unconnected I have become in the past ten years in my own community.

I thought back to the days immediately following 09/11/01. How time seemed to stand still as I mourned with friends, family, co-workers and even with strangers at the gym. We put our politics aside and banded together to raise money, share news or to just say hello. I thought about bipartisan politics and how divided we as a nation have become over the past ten years. About the long winter of protests here in Wisconsin, recall elections and families who are now divided between those who are union members and those who are not.

I thought of my own neighbors who before yesterday I hadn’t talked to in over a year. This past year the neighbors on my block joined together to create and pay for a neighborhood improvement project. My home’s property is located just outside of the project line, so I didn’t attend the planning meetings. Plus, their meetings conflicted with my favorite aerobic class; my husband did attend and kept me informed as to what was going on. Yesterday I walked down the block to take a couple of photos of the project.

I came home two hours later with a bag of flower seeds, freshly picked vegetables, new gardening tips, my photos of the project and a years worth of neighborhood gossip. Most of my neighbors were outside. They invited me into their yards and gave me tours of their gardens. I apologized for not attending their parties. I told one of them I still wanted to volunteer with a gardening group she works with and that I still planned on becoming a master gardener. Because these activities either occur while I am working or are too time consuming, my involvement would have to wait until I am retired - in ten years. She was flabbergasted - ten years.

My work is demanding, stressful and not community oriented. I learned earlier this year I had to say no to outside engagements for my own sanity. For the first time in eleven years, I am not on the board of an organization I am involved with and I must say I miss the community.

My current community involvement consists of on-line activity, going to work and to the gym. I have made several friends at the gym so when I do work out I feel as though I am taking care of myself and engaging in the community. Work is another story I will save for a future post.

My husband would say I spend too much time on-line. I do spend a lot of time reading other blogs, but I don’t comment or write posts as often as I should. I consider my blog’s regular commenter's my friends. Recently one of them experienced a health scare in her family then her home was threatened by Hurricane Irene. I found myself wishing I could call her to see if there was anything I could do and to offer my support.

In the end, I decided who cares where I was on 9/11/2001. I used this day and this post to reflect on my community involvement. My neighbor has a point; I can't wait another ten years to get involved. I have to figure out how to realign my life to include more community participation. I encourage all of you to reflect on your own community involvement. In addition to never forgetting what happened on September 11, 2001, it is important for all of us to consider how we can achieve our own sense of community and connectedness.

My next big thing

My goal for 2009 was to focus on getting my ducks in a row. I was feeling stagnant at my job and wasn’t sure if I wanted to remain in my current field or to pursue an alternative career altogether. After a year of personality assessments and soul searching, I’m sorry to say nothing in my life has really changed. This is partly due to the soft job market, but also to my discovery that my strength and passion is to read and learn. My desire to pursue a new career is more about taking the classes required for a new career than actually working in it.

Lately, I’ve been uninspired:
I wrote last week about not being busy at work. That along with the lousy spring weather in Wisconsin has left me feeling lethargic and uninspired. I even contemplated taking a break from blogging. Does anyone really want to read another blog post on “Why the Roth IRA conversion may not be for everyone?” Good because I don’t want to write about it. Even my new series, "Getting a Clue" seemed dull. The only problem with taking a break from blogging is I don’t have anything relevant to do in its place.

Then I read Penelope Trunk’s post how to get unstuck in life. She writes:

I coach so many people who tell me they can’t move forward because they don’t know where they are going. And I tell them, make something up. I tell them to commit to a goal, any goal, and move toward it until you think of a better one. The act of moving toward something helps you crystallize where, exactly, you want to be moving.

So what is next?
For the time being, I have no choice but to continue working at my present job. I still feel stagnant, but I need to buy groceries and pay my mortgage. To appease myself, I’ve signed up for two conferences one was last week and the other in a couple of months. And I do have this blog.

I spent most of my twenties and early thirties either studying for my business and accounting degrees or working multiple jobs in attempt to pay the tuition for these degrees. In my free time I read mindless fiction or books from Oprah’s book club. Books of substance were few and far between.

My focus for 2010 is going to be reading to “Get a Clue.”

I will blog about the books I’ve read and what I learn. My first series is going to be, “Getting a clue about aggressive advertising and marketing campaigns.” My favorite reference librarian has compiled a list of books for me. Since I don’t enjoy writing book reviews, I am signing up for Trish's non-fiction book challenge to push me into actually writing about these books. Who knows where this new goal will take me; hopefully to the next big thing. If not, at least I will be doing what I enjoy ~ reading.

Blog Browsing

Last week, I was out of town on a much needed vacation and have not yet gotten back to my usual routine, in the meantime I'd like to spotlight a couple of blogs I enjoy browsing:

Journey Mama - Rae is a mama who is definitely on a journey. She recently moved from northern California to India with her family; her superstar husband and their four children ranging in ages from not yet one to six years old. She is a beautiful writer who posts honestly about her life. Plus, she includes amazing photos of her friends and family and an occasional video or two.

Two Kitties - This is the sort of blog I envisioned creating when I started my first blog, A Little Bit of Culture, but soon felt I wasn’t up to the task. Heidi, who is an artist, is much more qualified. Her blog's eclectic posts are guaranteed to fulfill your daily culture fix.

Retired Syd- I became fascinated with this blog after realizing how much Sydney and I have in common; both of us work/worked as accountants, neither of us are/were totally enamored with this profession (I think this has to do with the long hours and the stress), both of us are in our forties, and both of us blog as a hobby. I have always dreamed of retiring early, Sydney actually did (a year ago at age 44). Reading Sydney's blog gives me a glimpse into what life would be like in early retirement. I can dream can’t I!!!

Scraping my New Years Resolutions

I've decided to scrap my New Year’s Resolutions; I wasn't making much progress anyway. Here is an update –

1. To be a better employee - This one went to the wayside shortly after my company's HR manager attacked my management skills. In the days following, it was all could do to concentrate on my work, let alone try to think like an owner.

2. To become a better blogger, this is something I still strive to do, but I’m not going to participate in the blog improvement project. I still think it’s a great idea and enjoy reading the project assignments. It's just that my blog posts are too infrequent to spend time blogging about my blog.

3. I am going to eat a healthier diet. I have made a small effort to eat better which has resulted in a one pound weight loss. Small effort = small results. Enough said about this one.

If I put my mind to it, I am sure I can come up with a better focus for the rest of 2009 than this.